Magic and Medicine from the Ozarks

Ozark Encyclopedia – C – Chips (Wood)

Wood chip for a bleeding nose – “You just catch a number of drops of the blood on a chip one drop for each year of the patient’s life. Put the chip with the blood on it in a dry, safe place on a high rafter, for example, or seal it up in a dry glass jar. As long as the chip is not disturbed, the nose will not bleed.” ~Randolph OMF 124

Ironwood chip and blood to take revenge on a lover – “If a girl has quarreled with her lover, she may get him back by taking a needle and drawing a little blood from the third finger of her left hand. Using the needle as a pen, she writes her initials and his in blood on an ironwood chip, draws three circles around the letters, and buries the chip in the ground. The recreant boy friend will be hangin’ round again in three days, or less.” ~Randolph OMF 167-168

Wood chip carried against mumps – “The best way to avoid getting the mumps is to cut a chip off an old hog trough, carry it in your pocket, and rub it over your jaws and throat every day.” ~Randolph OMF 155

Hog trough chip carried for mumps – “A treatment for the mumps was to cut a chip from an old hog trough, carry it in the pocket, and rub the jaw and throat with it from time to time.” ~Parler FBA III 2752